Hard to believe it’s number 20 already!
This bread is made with commercial yeast and a mixture of water-soaked grains. Two things to remember: soak the grains, and cook some brown rice the day before. Or, as Carolyn (on Two Skinny Jenkins) and I did, find yourself in full panic mode when it’s time to make the dough, realizing too late that brown rice takes AGES to cook! However, she pulled it off nicely by cooking the rice in the microwave. My own saga didn’t have such a happy ending. Let’s just say that I had some issues yet again. But, first, here’s the final product, the loaf of multigrain bread extraordinaire….
As usual, we can’t post the recipes for breads made in the “challenge“, but here are some photos of the process.
Soak a mixture of grains (cornmeal, rolled oats, and wheat bran) overnight in water, and then added them to bread flour with the other ingredients (yeast, salt, honey, brown sugar, and water).
My mixture lacked…. cooked brown rice… my apologies once more to Peter Reinhart, but after my initial panic I attempted to use the microwave, got “slightly distracted” and by the time I felt a strange smell coming from the kitchen, this was the state of my brown rice.
Needless to say, I skipped the rice. Instead of kneading in the KA, I folded the dough three times at 20, 40, and 60 minutes, formed into a loaf, sprinkled poppy seeds all over, allowed it to rise one more time, and sent it into the oven ….
The bread is just a little too sweet for my taste, so next time I would reduce the amount of honey, or maybe skip it altogether. For a multigrain bread I prefer a sourdough base. Still, my husband liked this bread quite a bit: “great flavor and succulent crumb” were his comments. I probably shouldn’t have slashed it, but I’ve been practicing this skill at every opportunity.
I wonder what the brown rice would bring to it in terms of taste or texture – I guess the only way to find is to make it again… 😉
You can take a look at the bakers ahead of me in the challenge, some used loaf pans, Txfarmer made gorgeous little cloverleaf buns.
Deborah, from Italian Food Forever
Oggi, from I Can Do That
Txfarmer from sina.com
Mags, from The Other Side of Fifty
Bewitching Kitchen 
Your final loaf looks fantastic! I am sorry to hear that your rice cooking did not go well… I hope i didn’t misguide you! I think the slashes look great 🙂 My own slashing skills sure could use some honing.
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Oh, not at all! I should have been more careful, plus I think each microwave might be a little different. I would do it again, your idea of speeding up the cooking was excellent!
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Nice looking loaf! I’m working on mine right now. I soaked the grains last night but left the rice for today. Nicole has great directions at Pinch My Salt for cooking perfect brown (or in my case, red) rice. We’ll see how it turns out.
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Loved the comparisons. Who would guess they’re all from the same recipe?? 🙂
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Your bread looks great despite the rice fiasco. I know what you mean about wanting to slash at every opportunity. It’s so much fun and eventually we’ll get the hang of it.
I made this bread yesterday and LOVED it.
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I love your folding technique. I’m going to have to try that. I think your bread looks gorgeous! Thanks for including the link to my post.
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I’ve made this bread several times and really like it.
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Oh wow! Check out that crumb. Beautiful color!
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Mags, I am sure you would love the “folding” method. So far, every recipe I adapted to it, has worked really well.
I am looking forward to the semolina loaf, because I’ve made it before by kneading, and did not care for the results that much. I am hoping it will be better with folding. Stay tuned!
Amy, I want to make this bread again using a loaf pan – easier for sandwiches to take for lunch. But I’ll include the cooked rice 🙂
Thanks, Daniel!
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It looks great! I made a free-form loaf, too, but think I’ll go with a loaf pan next time. I really enjoyed this one!
Happy baking!
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